Minerals.net

This post, our final in the series of the 2018 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show®, is a tour at the booth of Collectors Edge, a prominent mineral dealer from Colorado. Collector's Edge traditionally has the largest and most audacious booth on the show floor, with several outstanding specimens in the hundreds of thousands of dollars category. Some of these photogenic centerpieces are pictured in this report.

Collector's Edge also conducts specimen mining, and has gone into old localities and invested in mining them once again for specimens. The most notable new find at their sprawling booth this year was golden brown Barite on orange Calcite from the Elk Creek Mine, Meade Co., South Dakota. The quality Barite from this locality are classics among collectors, and it was quite refreshing to see new material.

Another exciting entry from Collector's Edge was a suite of exceptional Pyromorphite from the Bunker Hill Mine, Kellogg, Coeure d'Alene District, Shoshone Co., Idaho. Pyromporphite from this mine is considered among the world's best, but mine production has ceased and specimens have not come from this mine in quite some time. Collector's Edge had recently acquired the personal collection of Bob Hopper, Sr., the mine owner and operator, with many exceptional Pyromporphite specimens from the mine.

One more noteworthy comment from Collector's Edge. Their staff had mentioned that they have started a new mining operation for Rhodochrosite, directly up the hill from the famous Sweet Home Mine in Colorado. The hope is that they will find new specimens exploiting the same vein as the Sweet Home Mine. This operation would be solely for specimens, and would be a new mine tunnel not connected to the Sweet Home Mine, although it would be adjacent to it. The new mine has been named the Detroit City Mine. We hope this operation will be productive and look forward to seeing, once again, a fresh supply of one of the most incredible minerals in the mineral kingdom.